Unai Emery

[Stu]

I’m not so sure he’s off. I can’t see him wanting to walk away with unfinished business. The way he’s been celebrating this season with wins makes me think he cares passionately and he hates losing.

It’s not over yet.

No, not at all, just got to wait and see. I think there is some continuity plan as well, going by that Ballague book.

[PaulWinch again]

The biggest concern is he is just repeating what isn’t working, and making muddled decisions that worsen than position - starting Mings over Torres, playing both Bailey and Buendia in the same team. If he doesn’t do something different this spiral is continuing.

[Ian.]

I can only think Torres and Dougie are not capable of too much game time.

[DC1874]

He has no options though, what can he realistically do to change things? Our squad is threadbare, there's Championship teams with more depth ☹️

[Beard82]

One thought keeps nagging at me: O'Neill had a whole bunch of money and talent and we nearly won things but didn't, and that crashed and burned in just a few years. There might be a huge gulf in expertise, but what's different, really?

That thought struck me earlier.  Completely different circumstances, and like you say ability, but the fear is this is the same story 20 years on. 

I think it comes down to whether the owners, and Unai are prepared to build "the next" team.  Mings, Digne, Watkins, Martinez look like there best days are behind them and how can they be replaced based on how hit and miss our recruitment has been. 

I think the rest of this season is huge - if we get CL then I think everyone sticks to plan a, otherwise I think Unai and the owners might be more open to alternatives.

[curiousorange]

He won't play any other way, when he could try and at least make us hard to beat.

[usav]

He has no options though, what can he realistically do to change things? Our squad is threadbare, there's Championship teams with more depth ☹️

He could have at least done what many people on here said and not started Buendia, who simply not good enough, and started a midfield three of Onana, Bogarde and Luiz.  Anyone can see we are getting overrun in midfield right now.

[curiousorange]

One thought keeps nagging at me: O'Neill had a whole bunch of money and talent and we nearly won things but didn't, and that crashed and burned in just a few years. There might be a huge gulf in expertise, but what's different, really?

That thought struck me earlier.  Completely different circumstances, and like you say ability, but the fear is this is the same story 20 years on. 

I think it comes down to whether the owners, and Unai are prepared to build "the next" team.  Mings, Digne, Watkins, Martinez look like there best days are behind them and how can they be replaced based on how hit and miss our recruitment has been. 

I think the rest of this season is huge - if we get CL then I think everyone sticks to plan a, otherwise I think Unai and the owners might be more open to alternatives.

In certain respects I would like to see the alternative to Plan A, because of what we're seeing here. But Plan B, imo, doesn't involve an elite coach, it involves somebody who is ready to see if they're an elite coach.

[PaulWinch again]

A drop of in results is fair enough given the injuries - but what remains of the squad should not be performing as one of the worst teams in the league. That is unacceptable.

If the tactics need to adapt to suit what we have then fucking do it.

[Ianu]

He has no options though, what can he realistically do to change things? Our squad is threadbare, there's Championship teams with more depth ☹️

He has so many options hence the collective groans when we saw the team sheet.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

He has no options though, what can he realistically do to change things? Our squad is threadbare, there's Championship teams with more depth ☹️

He could have at least done what many people on here said and not started Buendia, who simply not good enough, and started a midfield three of Onana, Bogarde and Luiz.  Anyone can see we are getting overrun in midfield right now.

Yep. He's didn't need to start Mings or Watkins, either. I'd start the kid over Bailey, but I'll admit that's desperation. Sancho is also better than Bailey but that is very much 'tallest dwarf' territory.

[DB]

I think our spending limitations are really showing. City bought 2 top players cos they could, we cannot do anything near that to strengthen and when you lose 3 top midfielders, we don’t ability to replace them. We rely on ex players who were shifted out as not deemed good enough and a Championship level player…but he could at least drop Watkins.

[Ianu]

I think our spending limitations are really showing. City bought 2 top players cos they could, we cannot do anything near that to strengthen and when you lose 3 top midfielders, we don’t ability to replace them. We rely on ex players who were shifted out as not deemed good enough and a Championship level player…but he could at least drop Watkins.

Spending limitations compounded by silly transfers

[PaulWinch again]

Buendia and Bailey starting just kills us physically. That was apparent against Leeds. Add to that when Buendia isn’t on it he is actively damaging to the team - e.g. you’ll think he has someone covered defensively and they’ll just muscle him off it.

[Beard82]

One thought keeps nagging at me: O'Neill had a whole bunch of money and talent and we nearly won things but didn't, and that crashed and burned in just a few years. There might be a huge gulf in expertise, but what's different, really?

That thought struck me earlier.  Completely different circumstances, and like you say ability, but the fear is this is the same story 20 years on. 

I think it comes down to whether the owners, and Unai are prepared to build "the next" team.  Mings, Digne, Watkins, Martinez look like there best days are behind them and how can they be replaced based on how hit and miss our recruitment has been. 

I think the rest of this season is huge - if we get CL then I think everyone sticks to plan a, otherwise I think Unai and the owners might be more open to alternatives.

In certain respects I would like to see the alternative to Plan A, because of what we're seeing here. But Plan B, imo, doesn't involve an elite coach, it involves somebody who is ready to see if they're an elite coach.

I want Plan A to continue 100% as I think its our best chance.  We need to get our recruitment right as thats what has hamstrung us - Unai has ended up with increasingly weak squads.  its just whether all parties have the patience.  Realsitically the owners and Unai can both say I given you everything and it wasnt enough.